France: debate on insecurity signals the start of the presidential campaign

Audio 02:39

Wednesday December 12, 2020 in the morning, the French police secure a street in the center of Strasbourg after the attack the night before.

REUTERS / Christian Hartmann

By: Véronique Rigolet Follow

6 min

In this new school year, the government is once again putting security at the center of the political debate.

What is no surprise at 18 months of the presidential election?

Publicity

The security issue is a constant in the French elections.

This rise in the debate on delinquency and violence has in a way signed the entry into the campaign of political parties 18 months before the presidential election.

Everyone is thus trying to preempt this major subject for the French.

After a summer enamelled, it is true, of tragic various facts and of violence of all kinds, the right LR and the extreme right of the National Rally have made it their main angle of attack against the government.

" 

 " has tackled the boss of the Huats region of France Xavier Bertrand who ' 

 . "

" 

 ", " 

 is taking hold, ”added Marine Le Pen.

The frontist finalist of the 2017 election intends to cannibalize the right on this theme to be able to replay the match against Emmanuel Macron in two years.

The government not left behind in this verbal escalation

There is no question for the government to allow itself to be accused of " 

 " and " 

 " by its opponents on these sovereign themes that are again crucial for the next presidential election.

This is why the Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, from the ranks of the right, was truly dispatched to the front, multiplying both displacements and shock formulas, criticizing the " 

 " of France and even considering that the country is " 

 ".

Minister Darmanin makes Sarkozy to the chagrin of Minister of Justice Eric Dupont-Moretti, who denies any outbreak of insecurity!

Quarrel with the government ... President Macron has reframed his two ministers, but on the merits, he does not let go: "

thing 

" he said, "

 "

The security debate not about to fall?

Especially since the government fears a possible resurgence of violence - a year after the “yellow vests” and while the social crisis threatens with its business failures and massive layoffs.

An extremely perilous sequence for President Macron who starts from afar.

According to an IFOP poll, 73% of French people consider its record negative in the fight against insecurity.

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• French politics